Senate committee sets Tuesday hearing on Pentagon leadership

In this July 8, 2019, photo, acting Secretary of Defense Mark Esper waits for the arrival of Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani to the Pentagon. The Pentagon says that Esper expects to be formally nominated for the top job very soon, setting off a complicated leadership replacement shuffle at top Army, Navy and senior Defense Department levels(AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

President Donald Trump has said he intends to nominate Esper to the permanent job, replacing James Mattis, who resigned as defense secretary late last year. Esper was Army secretary when he was elevated.

Patrick Shanahan, who was Mattis’ deputy, served as acting secretary for about six months but stepped down last month before he was formally nominated for the top job.

The committee chairman, GOP Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, says the country needs Senate-confirmed leadership at the Pentagon “and quickly.”